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I’ve been racking my brain trying to come up with a reason this Villone signing isn’t awful, but I just can’t find one. I was ready to go so far as to say it makes sense if they turn around and trade Franklin to make Villone the 5th starter, but even that doesn’t work if you look at his splits (5.42 ERA as a starter over the past three seasons, 5.00 as a reliever). What’s worse, this pretty much guarantees that he’s going to be the #1 left-handed option out of the pen next season. Unless something has changed, Eddie Guardado is stepping in at closer, meaning he’s no longer a “lefty in the pen.” Our two lefties will most likely be Ron Villone and Mike Myers. Yahoo.

The best thing about Villone is his better-than-decent strikeout rate (7.68 per 9 IP last season). Not as good as, say, Arthur Rhodes, but what are you gonna do? We’re all about looking for positives.

Just when everyone begins to complain that there is no Mariner news to talk about, we get reminded why no news is good news. At least, when Bill Bavasi is running your club. $1 million base salary for Ron Villone, and $1 million in possible incentives. We have been unable to confirm that he will receive an additional $50,000 for every old lady he helps across an intersection, and $25,000 for every time he is publically quoted saying positive things about upper management.

We think Ron is a real good fit in that role (left-handed reliever). He is tough on left-handers as well as right-handers…

Of course, anyone with an internet connection and the savvy to find Ron Villone’s player card could dispell that myth in less than three minutes.

And, hey, just for fun, Mark Guthrie and Mike Matthews both signed minor league, non-guaranteed contracts last week. Not only do they not take up a spot on the 40-man roster, but if the Pirates and Reds don’t like what they see in spring training, they aren’t out a dime and can release them without compensation. A quick comparison of the three pitchers versus lefties from 2001-2003:

Guthrie: .243/.342/.370

Matthews: .213/.283/.316

Villone: .249/.334/.387

The going rate for middling non-effective relievers who just happen to throw with their left hand is not $1 million guaranteed plus incentives. Yet more evidence that market value is a completely foreign concept to our General Manager. And hey, now the M’s can count this as $2 million against their budget and continue to spin their way into not spending the money recovered from the Sasaki gift. Boy, following this team sure is a treat.